How Are Cargo Containers Made?
According to Seattlepi Business, the method of sending goods in enormous metal boxes that could be loaded and unloaded by crane began more than 50 years ago. Malcolm McLean, a North Carolina businessman, was the first to load a ship with dozens of 35-foot containers, which he shipped from Newark, New Jersey, to Houston, Texas. A cargo, or shipping, container is made up of a body with top, bottom and side walls with at least one of the walls having upper and lower horizontal hollow chords. Each of the chords has an opening at the top and bottom. Interior baffles slope downward for the runoff of water and dirt, explains Free Patents Online. Does this Spark an idea?
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Features
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The cargo container fleet is mostly made up of closed-top dry vessels. The containers are constructed of aluminum, fiberglass, plastic, plywood, steel or a combination of these products. Hinged rear doors allow for stowing and unstowing cargo, which is often placed on a pallet.
Description
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Containers come in several sizes: 20, 30 or 40 feet long by 8, 8.5 or 9 feet high. Forklift pockets are the rule in 20- and 30-foot vessels (the 40-foot-long container has no pockets). The cargo container's bottom wall has a U-shaped horizontal beam that is located midway along the length of the wall and extends downward. This wall has a top with at least one aperture. A number of baffles are exposed along the beam, and these extend outward from the side toward the opposite side wall. These then terminate at spaced intervals from the wall so that there is a downward opening.
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Steel
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Steel cargo containers have corrugated walls welded to the top and bottom side rails and end frames. Steel castings serve as the end frames at the container's eight corners. These are welded to four corner posts. Either flat or corrugated sheet steel makes up the roof. Interior bows support the roof structure. Plymetal doors--in this case, steel veneered wood--are fitted with locking and antirack hardware and weatherproof seals. Planking, plywood or wood laminate is used for the floor. These wood planks are screwed to the crosspieces.
Aluminum
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The aluminum cargo container is often fitted with some steel. It's never an all-aluminum structure. The end frames and side rails are made of steel. Aluminum interior or exterior intermediate posts surfaced with sheet aluminum make up the walls. The walls are riveted to the posts. The internal walls are lined with a plywood. Mostly, the dimensions and construction details are not unlike those of the steel container. Roof bows, which are bolted, riveted or welded to the top rails, are made of aluminum.
FRP
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An FRP, or fiber-reinforced polymer, container is framed in steel with FRP panels fitted on the side walls, front-end wall and roof. Roof bows are absent in the support of the roof structure. The roof is coated in a mastic--a kind of vinyl siding--as waterproofing. The doors are constructed of FRP and have steel locking and antirack hardware. As in the steel container, the flooring is made of planks, plywood or wood laminate, which is screwed to the crosspieces.
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References
- Photo Credit container ship express image by feisty from Fotolia.com
